Ken Ferrie
Agronomist Ken Ferrie provides agronomic insights, crop management tips, and practical advice for farmers to improve crop yields.
Farm Journal Test Plot research proves practices that reduce soil disturbance and sequester carbon perform best in a vertical farming system, as opposed to horizontal tillage, which creates yield-limiting soil layers.
Don’t take equipment to fields too soon and create headaches that will linger all season. While you wait for the right timing, consider doing prep work and projects that can help set you up for yield success.
Here are some tips to help you translate your data into higher yield and ROI.
Before heading to the field to apply anhydrous, firm up what crop you’re going to plant. Growers have been kicking around the idea of going beans-on-beans, given the markets. But anhydrous essentially ties you to corn.
A sudden change in soil density that occurs from the freezing-thawing process can cause problems with corn root growth this spring and impede water movement in the soil during the growing season.
Ken Ferrie answers two additional questions: Was it allelopathic toxins in the cereal rye ahead of corn that caused such a yield ding last season? Will there be a cap to Carbon Initiative payments per farm operation?
Once you balance fertility and pH in the soil profile, and adjust to making small, more frequent lime applications, you probably won’t need to mix fertilizer into the soil, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist.
Red clover can fix nitrogen, suppress weeds and improve crop yields. Based on test plot research in Illinois, a good stand of red clover can provide between 50 and 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre.
Growers can benefit from evaluating the dispersion of N, P and K and pH levels in no-till fields. Often, there is a drop off in soil fertility levels in no-till soils once below the three-inch mark.
The practice can be useful in some scenarios but not all. Farmers need to evaluate the potential impact on 2024 yield outcomes. Perhaps a bigger concern is how the practice impacts weed management, especially waterhemp.